On Saturday September 14th, Stephanie and the rest of Feds for Freedom’s (F4F) board of directors planned a surprise party to mark the end of my time serving as Vice President of Feds for Freedom. Marcus flew in from Tegucigalpa and Melissa drove in from New Jersey. Lisa, a new friend of mine and an active volunteer, drove all the way from Ohio. A lot of folks from distant locales made their way to meet and celebrate the work of F4F.
Keith and Abby hosted the event at their home and I can’t say enough about how their family-style get together, really felt like a family reunion. A lot of that had to do with their thoughtful attention to every single person who attended, but after three years of getting to know everyone… It really is a family to me.
I have many accomplishments in my life of which I am proud, but I am most proud of what we - and I mean every single member of F4F - achieved.
It is hard for outsiders to understand, even the friends and family we love and cherish sometimes wish we had taken another path. There has been no benefit associated with suing the federal government. It hasn’t resulted in a change in our employment status. In some cases we are still considered pariahs at work, and lost opportunities, training, and income. Some of us were removed from our positions and our personal lives were turned upside down.
We can, however, look at our children and tell them with honesty that we will stand up and fight so they don’t have to. Even if family and friends don’t appreciate it, we have preserved their rights to bodily autonomy, whether they wanted them preserved or not. Our professional colleagues may not say it, but they knew what happened was immoral and I suspect they too have been harmed by having to choose between livelihood and moral conviction. They needed our help and we gave it.
We came together when it mattered and when no one else would, and defended those who either couldn’t or were too fearful to do the right thing. We took our fight to the Supreme Court and even if our case ended without full resolution, we won. I am humbled to have been part of this movement. The members of our organization, the volunteers who have been working tirelessly, and the donors who gave with charitable intent made our success possible.
Not much more to say, other than thank you and please stay active in F4F. We have a lot more we want to accomplish. I am still offering my volunteer support behind the scenes and hope to see you there!